Friday, February 20, 2015

Going all-out for tomatoes

Colder temperatures and rain set in the last few days (highs around 48), so we headed for some eastern Washington sunshine. I came home to several packages for my tomatoes and peppers waiting for me. I am going to make my best attempt to grow my own tomatoes and peppers from seed.

Hydrated lime, worm castings, a grow light, a timer, a thermostatic outlet, and Thrive Alive are all part of my tomato plan.

I plan to add 10 percent worm castings to my potting soil, along with 1 teaspoon of lime per gallon of soil. I will water with Thrive Alive and have my seedlings under a grow light on a timer--on for 18 hours. I ordered a light from Amazon that has red and blue LEDs, so it only draws 12 watts. The plants are supposed to absorb the light better than a fluorescent light. It's a TaoTronich LED Plant Grow Light: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GNWK2XO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

I have a heater in the greenhouse set to heat to 50 degrees, but I bought an outlet that will turn the heater on at 35 degrees and off at 45. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006U2HD2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) That will pretty much heat the greenhouse if we have an extreme temperature dip. Since I have the heater out there, and I also plan to have a fan going once the seedlings come up to keep it from getting too humid, I think it is best if I don't have the light on 24 hours, since it is guaranteed not to heat up for 18 hours. I don't want to trip the circuit that the greenhouse is plugged into because our freezer full of salmon and berries is also on the same circuit!

We got home just before dark, so I haven't had a chance to check on my greenhouse to see if anything has come up yet. Maybe tomorrow! Sunshine again until mid next week!